May 23, 2008
From where I sit
It's hard to put into words what it feels like to walk into the White House. It really is a surreal experience where you feel like you are walking into history itself. I had a lump in my throat from the moment I passed through the metal detectors and began making my way through the White House corridors - the very same corridors where Presidents have strolled, where dignitaries and world leaders have travelled, where great men and not so great men have paced, facing the challenges of leadership. Add to all of this the fact that we were all there for Cuba and the experience goes beyond the surreal.
Portraits of former Presidents line the walls of the ante room, a large, columned open space adjacent to three parlors. Reagan is there. A famous portrait of Kennedy hangs there as well. Johnson is there, too. As are Carter and Clinton. In the parlors hang portraits of other great men: Jefferson, Adams. Ben Franklin. Men and women that didnt just make history, but that are history. And, among them, on that day, along with dignitaries and ambassadors and congressmen and senators, were women like Yamile Llanes Labrada, whose husband Dr. Jose Luis Gracia Paneque languishes in a Cuban gulag; Winnie Biscet, whose father Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet shares the same fate as Garcia Paneque. Olga Alonso was there as well, representing her brother Ricardo Gonzalez Alonso, who could not make the historc trip as he, too, rots in a Cuban jail cell.
There were daughters who lost their fathers there, mothers and fathers who lost their sons, members of families torn apart by fifty years of lies and despotism. I felt small next to these people. Pain and suffering being the gauge, I did not belong there.
Nothing can prepare you, as you sit there among these people, for the moment you hear the words "Ladies and gentlemen, The President of the United States," and then you witness the man, the leader of the greatest nation on Earth, enter the room. And then this man, this much maligned President, uses his influence as the most powefrful man on Earth, his position as the leader of the free world, the power of his pulpit to mention those languishing fathers and husbands and brothers. To call attention to their plight and their suffering.
I know there are many naysayers out there that believe this gesture by the President is all about politics, all about the upcoming election. And that may be so. But words have meaning and the truth is the truth. The President didnt utter a word that wasnt true. And as he is the most powerful man on this planet, each word carried with it not only meaning and truth, but the might of his charge.
We can argue about policies. We can argue about decisions. We can dwell on the negatives. But the positives still remain: President Bush aired the castro regime's dirty laundry for all the world to see. He spoke on behalf of men like Dr's Biscet and Garcia Paneque, like very few, if any, leaders have had the courage and dignity and conviction to do.
Posted by Val Prieto at May 23, 2008 09:24 AM
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Comments
Amen. Thanks for your efforts to give a voice (and face) to the voiceless.
Posted by: Gigi ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.babalublog.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at May 23, 2008 10:10 AM
I've had many disagreements with the President over policy that I have written about. He is not a conservative, though he has implemented policies that are conservative, as well as some that I am less than happy with. That said, other than Ronald Reagan, no President has spoken about the castro regime as has Dubya. If what we do here in the blogosphere has meaning, then those words coming out of the mouth of the leader of the free world matter. They matter a lot.
Posted by: George L. Moneo at May 23, 2008 11:03 AM
Val,
You know what, in some way you belong there too.
Like I told you and Henry at Cuba Nostalgia don’t you underestimate the power of blogs like Babalu and the many others that share the Cuban reality that is not told by the MSM to reach the whole world and most important, the American public opinion.
You are no longer preaching to the choir with your blogs, you are reaching regular Americans that read the many stories regarding the cruelty and true nature of the Castro regime during its 49 years of tenure. These are real powerful stories to be shared among all.
And that my friend is a very powerful propaganda tool that hurts the regime in ways that you cannot even imagine because it enables the turning of American public opinion (that is manipulated by the MSM) against the regime.
Yours blogs are countering the MSM 50 plus years of love fest with Fidel Castro and his revolution.
Trust me the regime knows the power of the internet as they don’t want their own citizens to have access to it because it would expose the people to the truth.
I was very glad that you were invited and knowing how you feel the Cuban cause deep in your heart I know that you felt honored and humble to be along people that have suffered so much at the hands of the tyranny.
I only hope that you brought enough handkerchiefs for the occasion.
Estas hecho un lloron…..lol.
This is what is all about, Cubans joining hands at the White House out of all places in a show of unity while the President of the United States of America uses his office as the bully pulpit to expose the plight for Cuba’s freedom.
You would never see in your lifetime the democrats staging an event like this one.
If only the MSM had the courage and the integrity to take time to display events like this in their daily news front pages the impact would have been even greater.
Unfortunately I did not see any mention of the event from any of them but, what else is new.
Posted by: FreedomForCuba at May 23, 2008 12:18 PM
The media did report on the event, or rather the announcement about the cell phones that Bush made at the event.
Posted by: Henry Louis Gomez at May 23, 2008 04:51 PM
Henry,
The way the MSM reports these events in a half-ass, half-way suiting their purpose and agenda.
You and I know they could do much better reporting these events at the White House but they don't want to because they have another agenda.
Plus the MSM don't want to clearly inform the American people the reason for the President staging these types of events which is to bring awareness to what is going on in Cuba with the political prisoners.
The MSM don’t really care about the gulags in Cuba and that’s how hypocrite they are when it comes to condemning human rights around the world.
The MSM rather bring up issues regarding the Guantanamo Bay prisons when you I and the rest of the Cuban-American community know that the Guantanamo Bay prisons for terrorist are a country club stay compared with Castro's gulags.
Posted by: FreedomForCuba at May 23, 2008 06:48 PM
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